A Far Cry from Africa

1. Walcott’s poem was written, in part, in response to the Mau Mau rebellion in Kenya against the British colonizers (1952-60), which was only one of many brutal incidents in the history of British imperialism. Walcott felt that the rebels were both justified in their response to the colonial oppressors and far too violent in their actions. How does this history inform the poem? What choices and dilemmas does the poet-narrator face in forming his response to historical events? In a broader sense, how can poetry speak to (or against) history? Salman Rushdie, another famous post-colonial writer, once wrote that “description is itself a political act.” What does he mean, and how might this statement apply to Walcott’s poem?

2. The poem makes several references to twentieth-century events. What is Walcott referring to when he talks about “[t]he salients of colonial policy” (Line 8)? What is he referring to when he writes that “savages” are “expendable as Jews” (Line 10)? What is he referring to when he writes of “a dirty cause” which squanders “our compassion, as with Spain” (Lines 23-24)? What do all of these events have in common? Why do they serve as background for the poet-narrator’s struggle in the poem? Why does he feel implicated in such events?

3. While the poem obliquely describes specific, and tragic, events of the twentieth century, it also functions to destabilize or relocate such incidents.